Category: Vegetarian Recipes

Today on the third of march i went to a fabulous cookery class held by Nena Foster and it was great.

It was held in Northcross Road in East Dulwich, we cooked vegetarian food with seasonal veg provided by Locals Greens. Nena told us all about all the veg that is in season at the moment and we used them in the recipes as they are super tasty when they are in season.

We made a three course meal. On the menu there was a Celeriac and Apple Remoulade. It’s a bit like coleslaw but way more interesting.

We had our own kitchen bench to prep the food and Nena said I kept my work space really tidy.

The main was a lovely leek, mushroom and cheddar crostata. It’s a lot of pastry with veg inside and it’s folded over and you go all around the side and do the same. After it comes out of the oven it will be nice and crispy and cheesy inside. The best combination with the nice crostata are toasted pumpkin seeds and nuts, they add a beautiful crunch.

The last fascinating creation was a brilliant fudgy vegan chocolate, parsnip cake with vanilla and coconut cream to make it vegan instead of using normal cream. It has dehydrated pear crisps as a garnish.

Also Nena showed us a great way on how to make the frosting. This is how you do it: so you leave the coconut cream in the freezer for a couple of hours and then you scoop it out and then whisk it and it goes all frothy.

I’ve not blogged for ages! Here is a quick recipe I made after school. I first tried something similar to this at Comptoir Libanais in Bath and I wanted to try and recreate it at home so I bought some Mymoune Lebanese Zatar spice from their shop. This is definitely the secret ingredient! You also only need a few other ingredients – halloumi cheese, tomatoes, cucumber, black olives and I garnished with fennel from the garden but you could also use mint, parsley or coriander.

My favourite snack is this super simple to make Spinach & Oatmeal cookie recipe. It’s healthy, quick and easy to make and unbelievably tasty. When I was sent some Bioglan Supergreen Cacao Boost powder to try out, I added this in to my cookie mix to supercharge it. One 10g serving is equivalent to 14 portions of fruit and vegetables!!

You simply blitz all these ingredients pictured below in a food processor, shape into cookies on a baking tray lined in paper and pop in the oven for about 25 minutes at 180C. Let them cool then eat them all up with lots of delicious chutney!

Supergreen Spinach Cookies

Supergreen Spinach Cookies

Supergreen Spinach Cookies

Supergreen Spinach Cookies

Here’s a video of the recipe when I made it for the first time with my friend Gita Joshi last year:

Chefs Liam and Colm Fitzpatrick made a unbelievably yummy Tonkotsu Ramen and I helped them prepare the dish which uses 36 ingredients! Tonkotsu Ramen is a Japanese noodle soup. Liam prepared the dashi broth and the eggs the day before. The dashi broth contains a seaweed called kombu and shitake mushrooms. In this video, you can see all the ingredients used to make the soup including mirin, cashew nut milk, smoked paprika and lots more! We also used the leftover wild garlic we foraged the day before. You can make this recipe vegan by leaving out the eggs.

I went foraging with my friend Adele Nozedar from Brecon Beacons Foraging during the Easter break and we picked lots and lots of wild garlic to make a delicious pesto. The season for wild garlic is usually March to June. The leaves grow in woodlands and often on the side of roads. Just be careful not to pick any Lords and Ladies that have a distinctive arrow shape at the base of the leaf as these are poisonous! Wild garlic has a long, leafy shape and you should pick from the stem one by one to make sure you only pick the garlic leaves. To make the pesto, I chopped them roughly with a mezzaluna, added in some chives, mint and tulip leaves from Adele’s garden and served with a glug of olive oil and salt. You can also make a traditional pesto with toasted pine nuts and parmesan.

Wild Garlic Pesto

Wild Garlic Pesto

Wild Garlic Pesto

Adele runs lots of fantastic foraging courses throughout the year and you can also stay in her beautiful Bookhouse accommodation in Llanfrynach in the foothills of the Brecon Beacons.

We also used the wild garlic pesto in a Tonkotsu Ramen that I cooked with Liam Fitzpatrick.